IUCN threat status:

Associations

Associates in the Northwestern Andean montane forests

Tthe spurred robber frog (Pristimantis calcarulatus) is an anuran of limited distribution found from La Planada in the department of Nariño in extreme southern part of Colombia, ranging southward to Cotopaxi Province in Ecuador. Its elevational range is 1140 to 3000 meters. This frog is endemic to the Northwestern Andean montane forests ecoregion. The disjunct formation of Andean topography and pronounced glacial period of isolation forced plant and animal communities to adapt to different areas after being disconnected from each other; therefore laying the perfect foundation for speciation. For a gamut of reasons, related to their complex topography and a biogeographical history, featuring continual altitudinal migration of vegetation zones in response to the prehistorically changing climate, these ecosystems present a diverse array of distinctive biological communities, characterized by unusually high levels of species endemism.

Within the Northwestern Andean montane forests ecoregion, flowering plant species manifest extreme biodiversity, and as many as 300 distinct plant taxa can be found inside a single hectare of the forest. At least 1178 vertebrate species have been recorded in the Northwestern Andean montane forests.

The ecoregion hosts a remarkable 86 taxa of palm trees, including two endemics: the feather palm and the endangered wax palm. There are numerous other notable species of the ecoregion including scores of endemic amphibians of the genus Pristimantis , many endemic treefrogs and a number of endemic amphibians of the genus Atelopus; moreover, other noteworthy vertebrate residents of these forests are the sword-billed hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) and the Andean tapir (Tapirus pinchaque).